


Silver Lining

by White_Dragonfly



Category: South Park
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Multi, Switching, Tropes deconstruction, Tweek is a manic nightmare boy, Unhealthy Relationships, Unreliable Narrator, grey morals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-06-28 05:37:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15700896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Dragonfly/pseuds/White_Dragonfly
Summary: Tweek suffers from several mental illnesses, his friends suck and his dad is a former drug dealer. He survives somewhere at the bottom of the high school social ladder. Craig Tucker is a semi-popular nerd with anger management issues, who absolutely cannot deal with South Park's abnormal bullshit. Tweek is all about aliens, weird books and conspiracy theories.  Craig is all about science, great sitcoms and computer games. Despite all of this they slowly but surely form a weird connection.The idea of this fic was born from the Marina & The Diamonds song "I Am Not A Robot", especially the words: "You've been hanging with the unloved kids, Who you never really liked and you never trusted".AU where Craig and Tweek never fought each other and never dated, Tweek is a part of Stan's gang.





	1. Act I. Wild thing

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Silver Lining](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15698841) by [White_Dragonfly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Dragonfly/pseuds/White_Dragonfly). 



Today their teacher asked them to write an essay with examples from books they recently read on the most boring topic ever: "Who am I where I belong?"

 

"I'm a wild thing." Tweek said looking in the mirror. His reflexion looked more like a pale ghost of lost opportunities. 

 

His mother often asked him, who the hell raised him. He usually answered: 

 

"No one".

  


After this they usually had their traditional screaming match. Shit like this was normal for families where son suffered from atypical depression, general anxious disorder and ADHD, mother was fucking bipolar, more likely suffered from ADHD too, but of inattentive type and father was in jail, while both of them tried to ignore his existence. Because their friendly neighbors were always happy to remind them of Richard Tweak's habit to put meth in his clients coffee. They didn't care that Tweek and his mother were victims too. 

 

Children from normal families avoided him, well, he was not bullied, just conveniently ignored. But even outcasts have their friends. Stan Marsh: his father was dense even by the standards of their shitty town. Son wasn't much better, he was always either drunk or hangover, especially after his ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend had left him and started hanging out with Craig and Those Guys. Kenny McCormick your friendly local drug dealer, he constantly talked about sex and porn to attract others people attention. He was a good guy. Tweek owned him his life and sanity. Leopold Stotch was bullied by everyone, even his own parents, especially his own parents, sometimes Tweek even wants to stand up for him, but he doesn't want to provoke Eric Cartman. He was a classic sociopath with a twisted sense of humor, who had perfected his art of torturing people, especially the ones he called his "friends". After Kyle left, Butters quickly became his favorite victim, but Stan and Tweek were getting their daily dose of bullshit too, they never had Kenny's invisible protection of ironic nonchalance.

  


Today Cartman decided once again to freak Tweek out by pulling on the strings of his anxiety and paranoia. But he failed or at least Tweek wanted to think so. Most of the times he was awfully predictable, but some days he could be a wild card. Like he did today in the school cafeteria. 

 

Cartman's "jokes"are usually based on two things: Tweek's twisted eating habits and his legion of fears of world around them. Today Cartman spoke ever so softly, while hugging his strained shoulders: "Hey, Twixie, have you noticed that Fucker is staring at you like a creep he is?" Cartman loved nicknames; Tweek hated them especially if they were made from his stupid name, it was already bad enough So he ignored him with a hope that Cartman would leave him alone. But his hopes were never fulfilled.  


  


"He looks at you and he totally thinks how he wants to kidnap you, lock you in his BDSM basement and rape you for days. Do you know what usually happens after this, Twikster?"

 

Tweek, who was almost kidnapped when he was a ten years old, who tried to avoid men much older than him at all costs and walked the streets only when they were full of light, in fact knew that very well. He often was reading about serial killers and famous cases of abduction until he had a nervous breakdown, trying to find any patterns. That's why despite all his fears, he stood up and went directly to Craig Tucker's table. 

 

Of course, that was not his personal table, this would be stupid, just a place where Graig and those Guys (plus one Gal) set. All of them were normal, so Kyle was the only person that greeted Tweek in school corridors. He and Craig rarely shared any classes together. Tucker had a hardcore boner for science and despite his "i don't give a fuck attitude" he was actually a good student. On the other hand Tweek sucked at everything but English, History and Music, so their community college was his only hope. This was going to be almost the first time they even talked with each other. 

 

"Hi, Craig!" The sheer loudness of his voice made everyone around them flinch; he always was so loud, when he was nervous.

 

Tucker looked at him with a slightly shocked expression; Tweek even felt a slight pang of pride.

 

"Hey... Tweek" some would say that Craig's voice sounded a bit less emotionless than usual. 

 

"Well, Cartman just told me that you want to kidnap me, lock me in your basement and rape me for days" He spoke without any pauses and he was sure everyone in the fucking room was looking at him.

 

"What the hell?!" Tweek already was regretting about this, but he needed to know if Cartman's crazy fantasies had any foundation behind them. He just hopes Tucker won't punch him in the face. "He is mental or what?"

 

"He is Cartman, so yeah, kinda." Tweek tilted his head, looking in those narrowed greenish eyes, as if trying to find an answer there. "I just wanted to ask you just in case."

 

Because this is South Park and everything can happen in South Park. Especially if it was predicted by Cartman. So if he asked Craig about this shit in front of everyone, even their stupid police will check Tucker's house first if he vanishes. His actions had some logic behind them, it was just... untraditional. 

 

"I don't want to kidnap you, lock you in my basement and rape you for days. My parents won't approve" Tucker's voice sounded as if he was extremely done with everything.

 

Kyle who was sitting at the very same table looked like he was going to die from embarrassment.

  


"Neat. Thanks, man. Sorry, that I talked with you, see you!" Tweek gabbled off and ran away, never looking back but he heard those words anyway:

  


"Wow, he is such a fuck up."

 

"Shut up, Clyde."

 

Their last lesson was P.E. Cartman was late his face in tears, his nose swollen and his right eye black and blue. Tweek was somewhat ashamed that Craig would be punished for this, but he felt a happy malevolence boiling inside of him every time he looked at Cartman.

 

Right now he remembered Clyde's words: "I am such a fuck up".

 

Well this one suited him well. Spaz. Great attraction for a freak circus. Unfortunately, this was not appropriate for an English essay, so he would have to settle with "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Their teacher always was quite sentimental, maybe she would feel bad for him and give him an A.

 

But to be honest? Being a wild thing was the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this fic out of spite half a year ago, but now I need some additional motivation to finish last chapters, so I started translating it in English.
> 
> If you have some constructive critisism or noticed any mistakes feel free to inbox me or leave your comments here =)
> 
> Or any feedback in general.


	2. Act I Runs in the family

Every time Tweek feels like he is going to fall apart and go to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to live there as a blob fish he looks at Kenny. He somehow manages to keep two jobs, rent a shitty apartment, raise his sister and go to school, despite the fact that he is constantly dying.

 

Right now both of them were sitting in the backroom, Kenny was getting high and Tweek tried to study for their history test tomorrow.  He was great at historical patterns, he was great at understanding multiple causes of different events; sometimes he even argued with their teacher, his classmates usually found it highly entertaining. But the numbers, the dates were killing him, he was constantly messing them up and it was unforgivable. It was not fair, some people would just mindlessly cram everything and get an A, and he would fail because of forgetting a right variant,

 

"Wanna try?" - Kenny had stopped wearing his trademark parka a long time ago, but it Tweek never got used to seeing his friend without it.

 

"You know that I can't! First I try weed, then go to LSD, then I start doing heroine, spend all my money on it, start share doses with other druggies, get AIDS and die! Not cool, man."

 

Kenny snorted as if Tweek said something extremely funny:

 

"It doesn't work like this. And you need to chill"

 

"I am chill!"

 

"Yeah, sure."

 

The time was crawling agonizingly slow. By the end of the evening the bakery was quiet and silent.  Usually Tweek was busy working in kitchen, helping others more experienced people with baking and making sandwiches, while Kenny was chatting with clients and smiling when people asked about meth in their cakes.  Fucking idiots. Meth is very bitter, Tweek remembers the taste really well, he will never forget it.

 

Right now Kenny had a break and wanted to socialize while Tweek wanted to prepare for a fucking test. Because if he fails it he will get a panic attack. _Sherman’s March to the Sea was conducted from from November 15 until December 21... December 2… How is Stan? Is he all right? God, I hope he is not drinking again. Why does his father even buy him alcohol in the first place? His mother should send both of them to rehab, but you can't help those who reject any help. That's why Kyle..._ Why he got distracted again?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

 

"By the way Tucker does stare at you. Like a lot"

 

"What?"

 

"Just don't freak out dude. He is not that scary It's just weird."

 

"And what does it mean? Jesus! He must be an alien in disguise! He wants my data about South park's freaky shit!"

 

"Dude, he is not an alien, we went to pre-school with him. So I was like selling alcohol to him and Clyde and this weirdo asked me: Are you dating Tweek?" - Kenny tried to imitate Craig's slightly nasal voice.

 

"WHAT?" Tweek was so disturbed by the idea of him and Kenny dating that he forgot that he was supposed to freak out about tomorrow's test and life in general.  The mere thought about this made him feel weird. They were almost like brothers at this point, sometimes they annoyed the hell of each other, but in the end of the day they always had each other’s backs. Stop. How did Tucker know about Tweek's sexuality? Did he spy on him? What if he was a radical conservator who wants to sacrifice him during the next Elder Gods worshipers meeting?

 

"Yep, I was surprised too. I mean. I know why would he go after you, you pervert but..." - Kenny smiled and Tweek knew very well what he was talking about.

 

"I'm pervert? You're pervert!"

 

"Well, I'm more about theory and you are more about practice..." - If by some miracle Kenny won't die today. Tweek would totally kill him with one of the kitchen's knife.

 

"Boys?"  - His mother had a tendency to appear in wrong moments: "Why aren't you working?"

 

Kenny hid a joint behind his back, but of course this wasn't about him. Tweek knew where the whole thing was going, but tried to protect himself as usual. "Martha told me that I can take a break and study. There is no job left for me anyway." This loud and slightly scary woman, who spoke with a thick accent ruled on their kitchen with an iron fist, but she always had a soft spot for Tweek.

 

"Are you lying to me again?" - Here we go

 

"No, I'm not"

 

"Are you sure about this?"

 

"Yes I'm sure! If you don't believe me just go and ask Martha!"

 

"Tweek you have to stop slacking off, you won't be able to take over our family business!"

 

He raised a book and hit his forehead. Hard. Several times Who told her that he wants to take over "their family business anyway?! The main lesson he learnt from this mess is that small businesses are too much pressure.  You have so much responsibility to workers, clients, government and no idea if you have any money left by the end of the month!

 

"Maybe I don't even want to stay in South Park?! ARGH!"

 

"Tweek, you won't survive on your own. You are afraid of everyone, even your own shadow! I don't think you get into college and even if you do you will fail and come back home.

 

I wasn't fair. Yes, he was a hyperactive spaz with a memory span of gold fish, his sleeping schedule was fucked up but he was doing better. His marks were not that bad either. But no his mother was always like: "You are so anxious, so vulnerable, so fragile, sweetie, so emotional, you need to try harder"

The only thing that saved Tweek from humiliating mental breakdown was Kenny's hand on his shoulder.

 

His mom probable realized that she pushed too much but it was too late.

 

"Miss Tweek we better leave, before everything go out of control. You can take these twenty minutes out of my salary." - Kenny's smile was polity cold, - "Let's go, bud.

 

And he went after Kenny as if he was charmed by some invisible music; he felt somewhat real only when he was in a truck that Kenny either had stolen from his parents or had exchanged for two boxes of scotch. Tweek didn't remember. He always kept the necessities in his bag, some of his clothes and books already had been in McCormick's apartment for better or for worse. He was trying to say he is sorry for himself, for Tweek's mom but it made no sense, nothing around him did.

 

Karen was already waiting for them at home. (He didn't know if he could call Kenny and Karen's apartment his home, but it felt like home. Plus gnomes rarely appeared there) When she saw them she smiled in that painfully real way, he never saw anyone in this town smiling like that, and shouted the usual:

 

"Hi, Tweek. Hi, bro, happy to see you alive."

 

"Same thing, Karen"

 

Just McCormicks siblings stuff.  If you somehow avoided dying today, then everything is fine. Tweek had no idea why they didn't hate their parents for the shit they pulled them through. Those assholes sacrificed their own kids for free booze! Even his own dad looked like a parent of the year in comparison. Nope. He didn't. This is overstatement. Tweek was lucky, that he didn't die from those experimental blends made from local ingredients.

 

"Thanks for brining Tweek by the way. He can cook something other than frozen waffles." - She became less shy and quiet, but her parent impact had left a mark on her: "We have chicken in the fridge."

 

For some time everything was nice. Tweek was busy cooking, while Karen was talking about her middle school adventures. Some boy tried to summon Shub-Niggurath, but made a mistake and summoned Barbra Streisand then... he never knew what happened after. The familiar ring tone sounded loudly and that was the moment when everyone in the room realized, the tranquility of this evening is over.

 

"Hey, Stan. Are you alright? Ughh... Say this again please. No, Kyle is not here. He left us a year ago, dude. Yes, he is an asshole. Yes, he is a bitch. Yes. Of course you hate his guts." - Kenny stood up and took his orange parka. It was different parka, of course, even the shade was different. This was not the first time when this happened. Kenny had to drag wasted Stan from his house with aggressive sister, arguing parents and depressing atmosphere.  Some days Tweek was picking up the pieces. The time they had to go to Mexico was especially memorable.

 

He missed those timed when Kyle was still with them, when Stan was somewhat okay, when Cartman was mostly bullying those two and Tweek's life was relatively calm and boring. He had no idea he would miss this.

 

Who even told them to date? Oh, yes, Cartman did. Did it work? Absolutely not!

 

"Hey, don't be upset" - Karen touched his shirt.

 

"You can help me to study. I have a test tomorrow" - It's always easier to study with someone. He even managed to cram some numbers before Stan came in. He was drunk and for some reason wet from head to foot.

 

He checked his phone somewhere in between his mom sent him several threats "to tear his head off, if he won't call right now" and several "imsosorrysweetie".  He answered with a short "im fine". His mother's threats never sounded very convincing. His father's soft words about everything did. Karen looked as if she wanted to ask something, but she never did and when Stan came she took her dinner and went to her room. She disliked drunk people. Some days Tweek wondered what her coping mechanisms were. He hoped the were better than his or Kenny's.

 

 

Stan was totally wasted. That moment he was the definition of the word wasted. He was whining about horrible world around them. How everything is shit, how much he hates everyone, how the only good person in this town ignored him, blocked him on all social networks and that's why Kenny just had let him drown in the Stark's Pond. Kenny lost his shit in ten minutes, he had no idea how to deal with depressed people and how Stan could just give up everything like that. He would scream at their friend, but it won't help and everyone knew it.

 

And that's why it's only Tweek and Stan in the end. He listened to Stan until he was out of the words. He took him to the bathroom and held him while he was vomiting, made him wash himself, gave him some clean clothes and sent him to sleep. Kenny was staying in Karen's room tonight. She didn't like to be left alone when Stan was in close proximity. Tweek ate his soup as fast as he could, took his pills and came back to Stan. His night was going to be really fun. While he listened to the drunk whispers and Stan admitting that Tweek wasn't that bad (years ago this would make him happy, but now he didn't feel anything) he could only think about one thing.

 

According to books and films love made people better, but his life experience showed him otherwise. It blinded people, this happened to his mother. It left nothing but a hollow shell, this happened to Stan. It made people meek and vulnerable this happened to Butters. So he was better alone for the sake of his sanity, he didn't want to trust someone only to be disappointed and betrayed in the end. Tweek built his personality from scratched, broken parts and he was not ready to break it apart because of some asshole.

 

He just has to be careful. And he will be all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> М о й о к е а н и д е а л е н, п у с т ь и в ы д у м а н в е с ь о н  
> В н е м н е т а в р а л о в, т р е в о г, в о л н е н и й и с т р е с с а
> 
> So i lied and fucked up my own dead line. Nice.  
> Yep, Stan/Misery is my ultimate OTP sorry guys. 
> 
> Anyway consrtuctive criticism, messages about mistakes and feedback are highly appreciated.


End file.
